Sensation and Perception

              The subject of sensation and perception is one that I have found to be very interesting and intriguing to me. Although I had seen many similar illusions like the ones presented in the readings and videos I never knew that there were so many experiments and findings that went along with these fascinating illusions.
              Perception deals with the neuroplasticity of your brain. The medical definition of neuroplasticity according to medicinenet is "the brain's ability to reorganize itself by creating new neural connections based on the experiences throughout your lifetime." Although the concept that people look at life and experiences differently is definitely not a new one to me. I continue to find the idea that the experiences that we may individually have can anatomically change the way our brain functions and experiences life very fascinating. The video from the readings titled Seeing Sound, Tasting Color: Synesthesia talks about the fact that there are many people whose neurons are positioned and connected in such a way that they can do things such as see sound as colors and any other combination of the senses you might think of. Not only can neuroplasticity change the way our neurons are connected and how we perceive the world, but it can also compensate for any injuries you might have involving your brain throughout your lifetime. An example of this would something like you having a traumatic brain injury and one hemisphere of your brain no longer being able to function. In this case the brain would compensate for the loss of ability in that one hemisphere by giving the other hemisphere more capabilities.
              Another video from this week that really interested me was the rubber hand illusion. Imagine a rubber hand is placed on one side of a partition in front of you while your actual hand is placed on the other side of that partition where you cannot see it. After this is done the person conducting the illusion then proceeds to rub your real fingers and the fingers on the fake hand with a paintbrush. After you believe that the rubber hand is actually your hand the conductor of the illusion then proceeds to hit the rubber hand with a hammer. This would more than likely scare you because of the multi sensory perception that we all have. Not only does the rubber hand illusion show how adaptable our brains are, but it also shows how easily a fundamental change to our brain can be carried out. The fact that our brain is so intelligent independently and is able to change so rapidly just goes to show how magnificent our Creator truly is and how much thought went into to creating each and every one of us.


Sources:
https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=40362 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxwn1w7MJvk 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTr1VnXKr4A